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Not all Pain is Gain

I woke up this morning with a bit more arthritic pain in my wrists than usual - not all pain is gain.

Reminds me about this "Cholesterol" drug that I was on for a few years.. one of the side-effects of the drug was pain.. didn't know about it until my sister described the leg pains that went away when she went off the drug.. I stopped and in a short while the pain in my left leg was gone and was no longer keeping me awake at night - not all pain is gain.

Also think about the antibiotic that Ann was prescribed in November - that drug gave Ann extreme tendinitis in her upper arms and impaired her ability to get in and out of her wheelchair - not all pain is gain.

Guess my point is that pain is sometimes inflicted on us by well-meaning folks like doctors.. often they are prescribing them to counteract something like high cholesterol.. how high is high anyway? My suggestion is to always examine the side-effects of drugs, and even natural remedies, before you begin taking them.. and discuss alternatives with your doc - not all pain is gain.

Your turn - let me know if you have had any bad side-effects from "medicine".

7 comments:

Yes, I sure did. I was on Cholesterol, Zocor and experienced horrible leg cramps. So painful. Then I read an article, that Zorcor was being taken off the market due to people getting muscle damage from taking it. I called my Doctor and was immediately taken off, and given a different one. Sometimes the side effects are worse than the decease.

I cut the tip of my toe at taekwondo practice one time, and it got infected. I let it go for a while, but then my whole toe turned red. By that time, I had forgotten about the original cut and decided I must have athlete's foot. I put some athlete's foot medicine on it and waited some more. The whole foot turned red. I went to the dermatologist. She prescribed a medicine for me. I was allergic to the medicine, so it got worse. I went back, and she increased the dosage, not realizing it was an allergic reaction. Almost immediately, my foot exploded in blisters. The next day, I was in excruciating pain and went to a hospital. There, they deduced it was an allergy and gave me some different medicine which cleared everything up in a week or so. Can't say I gained anything from that pain except the conviction that I should never go back to that first doctor again. You should see the picture I took of my foot at its worst. Everybody that saw my foot thought I was going to have to have it amputated. Even my wife thought that, but she kept silent, not wanting to worry me.

What burns me up, Bob, is that health insurance plans that cover prescriptions will often not cover a drug that works and force the substitute of another that either does NOT work or has adverse side effects. A dear friend who passed away last year was constantly fighting with Aetna because they would approve medications she absolutely could not take and disallow drugs she could. I have to wonder if the stress from all of that didn't contribute to her death at 54. :( My sister-in law went through the same thing when they switched her from Crestor to Zocor and now she thinks may have caused permanent muscle injury to her legs.

My own experience with a drug that proved hazardous to my health came when my doctor put me on a second medication to control my diabetes. Even the tiniest dose of Glyburide caused my blood sugar to go so low, I would be in danger of blacking out! Fortunately my doctor took me off Glyburide and I'm doing well enough with Metformin now.

As for doctors, there IS a reason they're called PRACTICING physicians. The medical profession as we know it today is barely over 100 years old.

My son is on a few psych meds right now that have very difficult side effects. He is going to ask his doctor to switch them, but obviously his dr. chose these for a reason. I trust his dr, completely (can't say that about to many of them) he's been a psychiatrist for over 30 years. I don't know how this fits in exactly, but yes, sometimes side effects are awful. I hope and pray that someday Keven can be off meds completely!

about bob

I am married, have two grown children and two grandchildren. I have worked as a soldier, software designer, technician, and a pastor. I am now retired. I write here to share my intuitions on life, faith, trivia, politics, entertainment and other stuff. Check out the menu bar above for more info and click on these to follow my internet comings and goings.